The Garden of Hilton Pattaya by TROP : terrains + open space

The Garden of Hilton Pattaya by T.R.O.P. Terrains + Open Space, in Chonburi, Thailand. If you crave a cool and inspiring landscape design, you are at the right place. TROP is an architectural design studio based in Bangkok, Thailand. The studio has been working since 2007 and as well as been included in our Top 10 Names In Landscape Architecture Today Trop has already won awards from ASLA. Hilton Pattaya is one of the award winning projects. It was short – listed for Hotel of the Year 2012 by World Architecture News and is a winner of the Thailand Property Awards for Best Landscape Design. On top of a shopping mall, a truly serene environment is created, hidden from the chaotic Red-Light Beach below.

The hotel’s beautifully designed pool

Motivation Behind The Project The project is located in Pattaya, a beach resort just a couple of hours away from Bangkok, popular with crowds of tourists. In the past, it was famous for its beautiful long beach. Unfortunately, due to lack of regulations, it has become a destination for cheap tourism. Therefore, nightclubs and red light bars have crowded along the beach and, as a result, the beach has lost it’s once famous beauty. Related Articles:

The designers saw the opportunity to regain the potential of the location and to rebuild the once serene and beautiful natural landscape. The garden is situated on the roof of the 16-floor shopping mall. In order to avoid the noisy beach, the Hilton Pattaya, a 200 room hotel, is built on the top of the shopping centre. From there the garden opens to the peaceful ocean view. This is the main concept, to create an urban sanctuary that reconnects the garden to Pattaya’s ocean once again.

To do so, the infinity pool is strategically placed at the edge of the roof, making it’s water visually connected with the ocean below. It is designed as one big sheet of water with a lap pool, fun pool, jacuzzi maze, and kid pool hidden underneath the same water surface. The bottom of the pool is decorated with fibre optic lighting resembling a school of shiny fish. In the night though, it glows like the stars under which it is located.

The Garden of Hilton Pattaya

Looking at TROP projects, one can admire the great attention to detail, prominent in this project. Delicate design that goes beyond beauty is also related to the right choice of materials. For a great book on infinity pools check out Infinity Pools by Ana G. Canizares Choosing The Materials Locality is the key to their design. Not only because of the budget, but also because they believe that local materials suit their gardens best. Hardscape materials have to be able to resist Thailand’s strong sunlight and extreme temperature, especially during the rainy season. Two main materials are used in the hotel’s lobby: sand and green landform. Sand represents the connection to the ocean and beach, as well serving as a platform for the hotel’s installations throughout the year. Softscape is chosen wisely. They selected local plants because they can thrive in the seaside air very well. Weight also plays an important role, because the garden is actually on the roof.

The Garden of Hilton Pattaya

The infinity pool used to spectacular effect

It is always a pleasure to see great design projects built within great surroundings, for example, on hideaway beaches or extraordinary mountains. Nevertheless, they have managed the situation brilliantly, re-creating the natural peacefulness and beauty of a remote and quiet ocean beach in the centre of a busy touristic resort. Photography: Wison Thungthunya, Adam Brozzone, Charkhrit Chartarsa Recommended Reading: